| Abstract: | The young non-welded Taupo ignimbrite shows remarkable lateral variations which are documented by granulometric and component analyses, and studies of maximum clast size and density. The grain size spans practically the entire known ignimbrite field, the coarser proximal ignimbrite having a median diameter 100 times greater than the finest distal ignimbrite. The content and maximum size of lithic fragments decrease also by a factor of 100 between proximal and distal parts. The content of free crystals first rises to reach a peak, but thereafter decreases to attain a very low value in far-distal exposures. The pumice maximum size decreases by a factor of about 10, and the most conspicuously coarse pumice rocks occur in a girdle nearly halfway out from vent to distal limit. The pumice in each grain size class decreases in density to half of its near-source value in distal ignimbrite. The overall outward trend is towards an ignimbrite which consists wholly of fine vitric ash; some distal exposures closely approach this condition.These variations are accounted for by a combination of processes operating in the moving ash flow. One is a continuous fragmentation of pumice leading to a rounding of the clasts, a progressive decrease in maximum size, the generation of much vitric dust, and the liberation of crystals. Another is a continuous sedimentation of heavy constituents (lithics and crystals), and an antipathetic rise of lighter coarse pumice towards the top of the flow. These processes operated in a moving flow whose upper layers travelled progressively farther from source; it is the topmost layers, strongly depleted in heavy constituents and enriched in light pumice, which have travelled the farthest and constitute the far-distal parts of the ignimbrite.A number of ignimbrite facies are characterized: the ignimbrite proper, with its proximal, distal, and pumice concentration zone facies; the deposits which form in the head and are then over-ridden by the body of the flow, including the fines-depleted ignimbrite variant and the heavies-enriched ground layer; and the ignimbrite veneer deposits which are left behind by the flow, which differ little from the ignimbrite except in their landscape-mantling form and the occurrence in them of lee-side coarse pumice lenses. |
